This week, the Internet Monitor learns about the State of the Internet from Akamai, the use of machine learning in Alphabet’s Project Loon, the AT&T and China Mobile deal, the rollback of privacy rules in the FCC, and the arrival of 5G in 2020.

While most Iraqi internet users often suffer from a combination of lack of access and government censorship, the Kurds in the autonomous Kurdish region in Northern Iraq often fare far better. Why is the parity in internet access so great between the two regions?